The Goodbye Game
by 123HSMluver
Summary: They'd been together since the musical, and were crazy about each other. Fear crept in between them, however, and started pushing them apart. Who would be the hero? Was there any point in saving what caused their sleepless nights? ONESHOT!


**AN: Okay, my wonderful readers! Here is a little oneshot for you guys! Thank you for being so faithful with my stories! You guys are awesome! Read on and enjoy! **

A thunderstorm grumbled overhead as Gabriella sat in her bedroom and agonized over the text message that she had just written. Her heart was pounding even as she read over the short paragraph, let alone when she let her finger rest over the "Send" button. She was scared to send it. Scared of the wonderful thing that she was about to let go of, but it wasn't as if she had a choice. Not really, anyway. It had to be done, and she had to be the one to do it. She read it over one last time, refusing to let the tears in her eyes fall:

_Troy, I'm sorry that it has to be like this, but there isn't any other choice. We aren't right and I'm tired of pretending that there is nothing wrong between us. There are too much broken parts to fix. I'm sorry. _

Feeling as though she was about to fall apart, she sent the message and watched as it flew off to his mailbox. She felt terrible about ending their seven month long relationship in such a cowardly way as a text message, but she knew she wouldn't have the confidence to do it in person or even by letter. There was enough anonymity in a cell phone that she was able to disconnect from the fact that she had just written that to _Troy_, the most important person in her life. And it was going to devastate him.

A minute passed. Then, two minutes. Ten full minutes she sat waiting with her phone in her hand and waiting for the heartbroken messages to come through. They didn't come. The message had sent and she had gotten the notification that he had read it, but he still no reply. That hurt her more than the sad responses she was expecting. It told her that he didn't care about her or their relationship. Tears gathered, but she pushed them away. It was easier this way, at least she wouldn't be dealing with a heartbroken boy following her around in the hallways like a child who wanted a cookie before supper time.

After checking her phone one last time, Gabriella put it on her table and crawled into bed, telling herself that she wasn't sad. Mentally shaking herself, she closed her eyes and watching the image of his beautful face dance around her head for hours before drifting off to sleep.

As soon as she opened her eyes the next morning, she knew she would regret waking up. Her eyes went immediately to her phone and for a long minute, she just lay in the sunshine, snuggled under the covers and too content to let an angry text message ruin her day. It was Saturday, though, so she knew that Troy would pop by her house if she neglected to answer his texts. That was the last thing she wanted.

Her phone informed that she had two messages. They were both from Taylor, though, not from the person she dreaded. Her heart was still beating wildly in her chest though, and it took her a while to calm down from the nerves at hearing from him. Carefully and deliberately, she got up, showered, and then joined her mother downstairs for a warm, sunny breakfast.

Maria had been noticing her daughter's reluctance to talk about her boyfriend, but she didn't push and tried to support her, even if she did think the young girl was making a mistake by pushing someone like Troy away. This morning, though, she decided to push a little.

"Is Troy coming over today, honey?" Gabriella shook her head and poured herself more orange juice. "Because if he is, I can whip up a batch of those cookies he loves so much."

"He's not." The finality in Gabriella's tone made Maria's stomach twist a little, but she said nothing. She knew better than to meddle in her daughter's business.

"Okay."

They cleared up from breakfast and it wasn't long before Gabriella disappeared back up to her room with a pile of textbooks. Maria watched her leave and stood there for a long time after she had disappeared, trying to understand her sudden change in attitude.

Flashback

_The house was quiet when Maria unlocked the door, and she paused in the front porch, the dying light of the day creeping from the house. The floorboards were warm as she travelled through the house, concerned at the lack of laughter and excited conversation. Gabriella had called her from school to let her know that she was having a group of friends over for a while, but the atmosphere was more like that of a funeral. She didn't even hear music playing, which was Gabriella's normal homework atmosphere._

_"Gabi?" She called out, quickening her pace as she hopped up the steps to where their bedrooms were. "I thought you were having a few friends over."_

_Her room was empty and the lights were off. Trying not panic over nothing, Maria checked all other rooms and called out to her several times, but there was no reply. Next, she texted her daughter and waiting in vain for her to reply. Her phone told her that Gabriella hadn't even read it, so her "mom radar" started beeping._

_It took Gabriella three calls to answer._

_"Why have you beeng ignoring me?" Maria hated the panic and anger that crept into her voice._

_"Mom? Relax, I just didn't hear my phone! Is everything okay?"_

_"You told me that you were going to have some friends over, but there was no one here when I got home. What's going on?"_

_"We just decided to go somewhere else, that's all, Mom." There was a muffled sound in the background and she heard a sigh. "Everything's fine."_

_Now her other "mom radar" was going off. "Gabi, who's there with you?"_

_"I told you Mom, my friends. Just the normal crew."_

_"And does that normal crew include Troy?"_

_There was a slight hesitation. "Yes, obviously."_

_"Your other friends aren't there are they?" Maria was smiling now. "You don't need to lie to me if you want to spend time with Troy, honey. Just tell me so I'm not worrying like I was when I got home."_

_Gabriella sputtered helplessly. "Mom, it's just weird okay? It's weird to be talking about this kind of stuff."_

_"Just be honest next time, sweetie. Then we won't have to talk about it."_

_Later that night, Gabriella crept into the house and tried to be as quiet as possible. Maria was doing dishes, though, so she heard._

_"Gabi, can you come here for a minute?"_

_"Mom, look, I'll tell you next time, I promise!" Gabriella came rushing into the room with a wild expression. "I'm sorry okay?"_

_"Relax, you're not in trouble, I just wanted to tell you that I'm glad you were honest with me on the phone."_

_"You're not mad at me?"_

_"No, honey. I was a teenager too, remember?"_

_"Yeah, like forever ago!"_

_Maria laughed. "Not so long ago that I don't remember all the feelings that made being a teenager so interesting."_

_"Oh gross, Mom."_

_"I'm serious, Gabi."_

_"Mom, I didn't lie about my friends so that Troy and I could go...you know." Her cheeks flushed. "We just hung out and watched a movie. I swear."_

_"I believe you, but even if you and Troy-"_

_"No!"_

_"I'm just saying it'd be okay!" Maria laughed, pulling her daugher close due to the discomfort on her face. "And nothing to be ashamed of."_

_"I love him, Mom, but I don't think we're ready to go there yet."_

_"Just know that I think he's perfect for you and that regardless of where you two want to go or not want to go, I'm here for questions or anything. Okay? Troy's a keeper, and you don't need to hide your feelings for him from me."_

End of Flashback

The bounce in Gabriella's step had disappeared sometime after that conversation. Maria thought it was the stress of final exams before summer vacation, but now she wasn't sure. The details of her daughter's relationship were unkown to her, but she knew better than to take Gabriella's word for granted. Something was wrong, and she had a feeling that she knew the root of the problem.

She struggled with interfering in her daughter's love life for a long time, before ultimately making the decision that she would rather her daughter's anger at her then at someone who didn't deserve it. She called Troy's mother and passed on the message that Troy should pop by the house. Angela Bolton knew there was a problem too, and two women discussed it a bit before getting off the phone line. Both women were hurting, and agreed to the plan of getting their children to talk.

It was just after supper when Troy appeared at the front door. He didn't knock, though, and Maria finally opened the heavy door to see him turned backwards and bouncing from leg to leg.

"Troy, you know you can come right on in."

"Yeah...I just...needed some time, I guess." He turned around and Maria saw the confused expression on his young face. "It's been a hard day. My mom said you needed to talk to me about Gabriella...is she okay?" The worry in his handsome face made Maria smile.

"I actually called you over here because I want you to talk to Gabriella. I don't know what's going on between you two, and I don't need to know-"

"She broke up with me." Troy interrupted sadly.

Maria ducked her head for a moment. "Oh, Troy, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cause you pain by having you over here."

"No, I'm glad you called. She...it wasn't right, how she did it, and I think part of her wanted me to come and argue with her. I couldn't do that last night, because it hurt too much, but I'm able to do it now."

"She's in her room. I'm going out for a few hours to give you some space. Good luck, Troy. And thank you for not giving up on her."

"I never will." Troy smiled and, after saying goodbye to Maria, slowed started up the stairs with a racing heart. Truthfully, he was nervous and still hurting with Gabriella's decision. The day had been torture for him, but at least now he would get some answers.

Troy walked confidently into her bedroom and started talking before she had a chance to tell him to leave. "We need to talk. I'm not letting you give up on something that is so important to both of us. That text you sent me was not like you, and I know that it came from you, but it wasn't you."

"You're not making sense." She murmured sleepily, pausing the movie playing on TV and pulling her blanket cocoon closer. He knew it was to keep him away, but he sat down on the couch beside her anyway and wiggled closer until he could feel her body through the layers of blankets. She didn't move away.

"Love does that to a person." He replied. She wouldn't look at him. "Gabi, what's wrong? What was so terrible that you wanted me out of your life?"

She stared at the TV screen and wouldn't answer. Troy reached forward and moved the blanket away from her face, brushing her cheek at the same time. She tensed, but still wouldn't look at him. He moved his face closer to hers and she reacted then, turning her back to him.

"You're hurting, Gabriella, I can see it." Troy whispered, pushing his own hurt feelings aside for the moment. "Why did you text me last night when you obviously didn't want to break up with me?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." She mumbled. Her thick curls hid her face from him now. Tentatively, Troy reached forward and traced her spine with his finger. She shivered and curled into a ball, but she turned to face him again, her eyes blazing.

"Brie, part of what makes us so strong is talking our problems out. You stopped talking to me a few weeks ago and I deserve to know why. You owe me that." A bit of anger had crept into his voice, but he let it linger.

"There's no point in saving a relationship that's not going to last." She retorted. "I'm going to be leaving soon, and I figured I'd save us the pain of having a tearful goodbye, only to break up two weeks later because of the distance."

"You're...moving?" This was news to Troy. And Maria hadn't mentioned anything about it at all in the past few months, which wasn't typical. There were no boxes or any other signs.

"No, I'm not moving next week or anything. But I will eventually, so what's the point in trying to have a relationship or even friendship?" Her bitterness made Troy silent for a few moments, and then the gears started to click into place.

"This is about all your other schools, isn't it? You had to leave people behind that you cared about and you don't want that to happen here. So you're protecting yourself." She said nothing and stared off to the right. She was so beautiful that he wanted to kiss her, but he knew better. "Brie, I'm not going anywhere and neither are you." She glanced at him and then looked away again. "We're going to have a fantastic summer together and then go back and finish Senior year, like we talked about. You're not moving, and the only seperation we're going to have to worry about is University."

"I can't say goodbye to you, Troy." She whispered, looking at him with a pained gaze. "Not even for University. So I saved us the trouble of worrying about it."

"So you prefer the agony of not being in each other's lives as opposed to dealing with a couple months of long distance a year from now?"

Now that she heard it out loud, it did sound pretty stupid. "You've never moved. I wouldn't expect you to understand." She insisted.

"You're right, I don't understand what you've been through, but this isn't about that. Not really, anyway. Brie, you're scared of getting hurt, and that I _do_ understand. Any kind of relationship is scary, but you and I know that we're got something pretty special." He paused, but she didn't say anything. He took a breath and continued, "It terrifying for me too, sometimes, but you have to trust me. That's what makes us so special and different from everyone else that's tried to make a relationship work."

"We're not that different."

"Brie, come on. Have you already forgotten the drama from the musical? The drama that happened back in the callbacks? That was nuts, and we still found each other! We protected each other. How could you even doubt the trust and commitment between us?" He was a bit angry now, but didn't hide it. If it would get her to listen, it was worth it.

"Of course I remember. But we're like every high school couple, Troy, we won't make it in the real world."

"Wanna bet?"

She didn't know what to say to that. He was being so sweet and perfect and...well, he was being so _Troy_. She knew she was lucky to have someone like him in her life, but he was right when he talked about the fear. There were nights when it kept sleep away. He had so much power over her that he could break her with with a single sentence or a look. She was scared of being under someone else's control to that extent.

As if he was reading her mind, Troy moved closer, still, and brushed some hair off her cheek. He smiled at her and held her face in his hand so she wouldn't look away again.

"I'm not going to hurt you."

It wasn't what she wanted to hear. She wanted him to be angry at her, to hate her for breaking up with him. He wasn't giving her that. Instead, he was being his perfect, charming self. She sighed.

"We're no good for each other, Troy." She murmured, giving him her best pout. He just chuckled and shook his head at her.

"I don't want good, Brie, I want you. I want someone who makes me happy just by walking into the room, or by sending me a text goodnight. That someone is you, and I'm not letting you go, no matter what you do. You're stuck with me."

"Damn," She grumbled. "why do you have to be so perfect? Why can't you just hate me like the rest of the world would?"

"Because I see the pain that you are hiding behind and I'm not going to let you hide behind it anymore." He replied, honestly.

He knew he had won the conversation. She was starting to smile and her blanket cocoon had fallen away from her shoulders, exposing her pajama-clad body to him. Carefully, he wrapped his arms around her and held her delicately, not knowing whether he was pushing his luck or not. She melted into him, however, and he smiled into her hair.

"You're so annoying." She groaned, hugging him tightly.

"I love you too, Gabi." He laughed, feeling all the pain and frustration from the day slipping away into another world. "I love you too."

**AN: How was that? Let me know! Thanks for reading!**


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